A - Clear light bronze with no trace of haze or opacity. This stuff is like looking through a pair of BluBlockers. The head is about a finger and a half of thick white foam that drops quickly to a cap. Some soapy lace sloshes up on the glass but fails to stick around.

S - Thin pine cone hops have a bit of a Christmas tree aroma, and some salty cracker malts make up the other half of the nose. Nothing special here.

T - Bristling piny hops are the star of the show, but fail to do a good job of kicking any real ass. Salt and mineral notes in there are really not helping things along. This is tinny tasting and under-assertive.

M - Thin and under-carbonated. The neutral finish is far from hoppy or dry, and any memory of what this tasted like is gone from my memory as soon as I swallow.

D - This is sort of like a pale ale lite. Anemic, limp wristed hops flail over a thin base of saltine crackers. I would have guesses that this was a German pils in a blind taste test, and it might have garnered a slightly higher score if it was advertised as such. Boring, but might entice some BMC people to try something other than pale lagers.

This beer pours a clear, watery gold color. The head is half an inch in height, and recedes quickly into sparse lacing. The aroma has some grapefruit in it, but it is very faint. The taste is like the aroma, watery grapefruit. The mouthfeel is thin, and watery. Overall, this is one of the worst APA I have yet tasted. It is thin and watery in all dimensions. I will not drink this again.

Poured from a 12oz screw cap bottle into an Imperial pint glass. Poured aggressively, resulting in a 1 finger head of foam. Clear and yellow/amber in color, it had several streams of bubbles rising to the surface. Initial smell had a slight fruitiness to it with not much flavor at 1st. Becomes more bitter at the end with little hop to it. It was a little thin and could some more malt. Ok overall, I wouldn't seek it out or turn it down.

A- Lighter, clear straw color. White head rises to about a 1/2 inch and then dissipates instantly. This beer almost looks like a lager.

S- The head dissapeared so fast I barely got my nose in there before it was gone. I don't get a lot, a little breadiness and a small hop tone. Kinda sad after having a few aromatic pale's lately.

T- The taste is a little off. The beer is very underwhelming. I get a small amount of hop with a light biscuity taste. *Sigh* Capital, my first introduction isn't so nice. It tastes like something AB would make. There is only the slightest bite.

M- Very smooth, very drinkable, very...unremarkable. On the can it says "Disarmingly drinkable", and it tastes like they are trying to be the Bud Light of pale ales.

D- Yeah, you could have a few of these and not know any better.

Capital, I am so sorry. I will have to give this one another go. I heard great things and I think I got a bad can, so my score will reflect that until I taste better.

Pours a nice chill hazed bright orange, I like how neon it is... Off-white two finger head with a kind of rough and tumble look to it. Good retention and good lacing.

A good deal of citrus is present in the aroma, mostly a lemony zing which has been missing from many of the hoppy beers I've had lately... I wonder which hops they're using. Some orange and grapefruit are here too, along with a bunch of caramel in back.

Taste starts off nice, with the citrus right up front with a zingy amount of lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit all well in balance. Unfortunately after this pleasant profile abruptly ends, a gigantic caramel flavor washes over and finishes very buttery and astringent, almost like a butter rum lifesaver.

Mouthfeel is a little airy for me, it just feels like it isn't oily enough to me or something, and is slightly abrasive instead of soothing.

The session started off well enough until I put the beer into my mouth. It's not bad, but it's not too good either. Alcohol wasn't really present in any way but the astringent caramel and butteryness wore on me.

Pretty average run of the mill pale ale. Capital's website says they dryhop this one. I have tough time believeing that after tasting. Pretty skimpy on the hop flavor & aroma. I had high hopes but this beer is quite pedestrian.

Very smooth, drinkable, and refreshing which is typical of a good pale ale. Just not enough hop action to get excited about here.

Twelve years later and I am still alive, kicking and receiving a pension from Uncle Sugar, courtesy of 15.25 years of honorable service in his Canoe Club! Howzat skew your tables, you actuarians? Why do I mention my time in the U.S. Navy?, you ask. Because they radicalized me in ways I could never imagined as a 17 y/o kid, including putting more weapons in my hands than most people even know of.

From the CAN: "Hops with an Ameri[CAN] accent."; "Disarmingly drinkable." No beer will ever disarm this citizen! They will disarm me when they pry the weapon from my cold, dead fingers.

Wow, I love a beer that CANnot be CANtained! Following the Crack, I had beer foaming out, forcing a quicker Glug than I usually prefer. I got just a finger of foamy, rocky, bone-white head before it dissipated into the ether. Nice lacing, though. Color was a slightly hazy orangish-amber. Nose had a definite citrus-hop bite. My mouth began to water. Mouthfeel was medium and the hops were there, but not disarmingly so. I was frankly a little disappointed. Maybe Capital should stick to their strength - lagers. Finish was powdery in terms of the hops and their bitterness, almost like it was saturated in being dry-hopped. I'd like to like this, but no soap.

Big bountiful head, bone-white and holding steady while lots of bubbles rush to it. Lace clings like sea foam to the sides. Color is sunny copper. It's nice and looks the part.

Aroma features hops that lean very much on the fruity side, some citrus zest but also apple and a distinct peach smell. Almost like Magic Hat's #9 in the nose. Not a lot of malt backup detected on the sniff, just a mild doughy scent, like shortbread.

Flavor is simplicity incarnate: fruity hops; kiss of doughy malt; light mineral flash. Adequate hop bitterness in the finish, nothing blaring or over-the-top. There's nothing at all wrong with simplicity of course--this just doesn't impress and I can't find much more to say about the flavor.

Mouthfeel is about as ho-hum as the flavor. Remarkably thin, bordering on watery. Not even the ample carbonation can save it.

I had Capital's Autumnal Fire on tap at Chicago's Map Room a couple years back and it was exceptional. This is not. It's not even "disarmingly drinkable," as the label claims, as it falls short where it matters most (taste/flavor). Here's another label claim: "Hops with an American accent." That would be a neutral midwest accent (I can say that, I'm from the midwest and have a neutral accent). Yet another label claim: "America's #1 Rated Brewery," which begs the question "Rated by Whom?" Of course, I would jump at any chance to have their Autumnal Fire again.